Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Carbon Footprint Report 2019 2020
Carbon Footprint Report 2019 2020
Table Index
Table 1: Carbon Footprint by Scope and Country Office 2019 and 2020 ...................................................6
Table 3: Greenhouse Gas Emission in 2020 by Type of Emission Source and Country Office .............9
Table 4: Greenhouse Gas Emission in 2019 by Type of Emission Source and Country Office .......... 10
Graphics Index
Graph 1: Carbon Footprint 2019 and 2020. Percentage Distribution by Scope .......................................7
“Children and adolescents fully enjoy their wellbeing, their rights and opportunities to develop their abilities
on a shared planet”.
Therefore, all our work for the next decade must contribute to achieving this social impact, in which the
wellbeing and enjoyment of children's rights are intrinsically linked to the protection of the environment.
Equally, the new 2021-2025 Global Programme Framework contains a firm and resolute commitment to
environmental sustainability, as it includes the Ecological Transition component as one of the priority work
areas to be developed at a programmatic level over the next few years.
Lastly, our 2021-2023 Organisational Development Plan includes, as a specific goal for the next three years,
the reduction of the organisation’s environmental footprint, for which the Environmental Policy is a key
element, as it is the document which establishes our commitment in this sense and defines the objectives
and lines of action aimed at reducing this environmental footprint, both the one generated by the
implementation of our programs and projects, as well as the daily activity of the organisation.
Which is why, over the next three years we will work to implement the Enviromental Policy, with the design
and setting up of actions in various areas of the organisation, from initiatives aimed at reducing or offsetting
our greenhouse gas emissions, reducing the amount of waste we generate, to the incorporation of
environmental criteria in the selection of suppliers.
Similarly, it is important to highlight that, during 2020, Educo has played an important role in the elaboration
of documents at the heart of the ChildFund Alliance, such as the Environmental Sustainability Standards
shared by all its member organisations and which guide the work for the protection of the environment
and the reduction of the impact generated by our actions.
To calculate the carbon footprint for the years 2019 and 2020 we have used the 2020 and 2021 versions of
the Guide to calculating greenhouse gas emissions published by the Catalan Climate Change Office and
which uses the ISO 14064-1:2018 methodology. In addition, we have also applied the GHG (Grennhouse
Gas) Protocol standards.
The carbon footprint measures the impact on the planet in terms of how many greenhouse gas emissions
we emit directly or indirectly in our daily activities as an organisation. For example, how much fuel we use
during the trips we make with our vehicles, how much electricity we consume or what impact the use of
air conditioning equipment has.
The calculation is made with an operational control approach, i.e. it includes all offices and activities of the
organisation that Educo has direct control over. Therefore it is carried out globally, including the direct and
indirect emissions (see table below) in all of our country offices in Africa, America and Asia and, in Spain,
the head office in Barcelona and the office in Madrid. For the calculation for 2020 the country office in Niger
has also been added.
The emissions inventory includes emissions generated by the activity at the organisational level, such as
emissions generated directly and indirectly by the use of the offices. In terms of the activities carried out for
the implementation of projects, only the emissions generated by associated work-related travel are
included, both through vehicles managed by the organisation and other means of transport.
In the following table the GHG emissions identified to calculate the carbon footprint are presented, in
accordance with what was mentioned above, which are classified in three scopes:
Scope 2 Indirect emissions associated to Electricity consumption in the Educo kWh of electricity purchased
electricity consumption offices
2015 has been taken as the reference year (base year) for the carbon footprint analysis, as it was the first
year in which the direct and indirect emissions from all country offices were included. The reference year is
useful for analysing the evolution of the organisation’s GHG emissions and get to know the effectiveness
of the measures taken to reduce these emissions, as the changes in Educo’s operations since 2015 have not
been decisive (in terms of calculating the carbon footprint) in relation to the organisation's operations as a
whole. In 2020, specifically, the emissions of the Niger office have been incorporated, with a total weight of
emissions of less than 1%, so the base year remains unchanged.
Similarly, it is worth highlighting that in itinere journeys have been included in the 2019 carbon footprint
calculation, using the estimate resulting from the staff survey conducted that same year. In terms of in
itinere journeys in 2020, given the prevailing pandemic situation, since March 2020 most of the Educo
employees have continued to work remotely, therefore this activity has been excluded from the calculation
and the importance of this data will be assessed when we are in a post-pandemic situation.
Lastly, it is important to highlight that in section 4. Emission factors used of this report detailed infomration
can be found about the emission factors applied and the information sources used for estimating the GHG
emissions.
1 Until 2018, leakage was estimated according to the equipment used in each office, the type of refrigerant gas used,
the capacity of the equipment (in kg) and the annual ratio of leakage according to usage time, following the DEFRA
(Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs - UK Government) calculation methodology.
5324.32 2761.69
t CO2eq t CO2eq
The Educo carbon footprint has gone down 48% in 2020 compared to 2019, specifically, in 2020 Educo
has emitted 2562.63t of CO2eq2 less than in 2019. The pandemic situation, and with it the confinements
and quarantines that have ocurred internationally, have been the determining factors for this difference. In
fact, the most drastic reduction in GHG emissions has been produced in Scope 3, in particular the indirect
emissions generated by in itinere journeys, because most of the Educo staff is working remotely since the
start of teh pandemic, as well as work-related travel, which was paralysed in March 2020 and was drastically
reduced for the rest of the year.
The results of the carbon footprint calculation for 2019 and 2020 by scope and country office are detailed
below:
2 The CO2 equivalent is a universal unit of measurement that indicates the global warming potential of each of the
different greenhouse gases, expressed in terms of the global warming potential of one unit of carbon dioxide. The
CO2eq emissions provide a useful metric for comparing different greenhouse gas emissions. Definition from the
Spanish Climate Change Office (Oficina Española del Cambio Climático) and the Catalan Climate Change Office
(Oficina Catalana del Canvi Climàtic)
2019 carbon footprint (in t CO2 eq) 2020 carbon footprint (in t CO2 eq)
Country office / Scope Scope 1 Scope 2 Scope 3 Scope 1 Scope 2 Scope 3
As we have mentioned, the reduction in mobility as a result of the pandemic has significantly reduced the
indirect emissions generated by in itinere journeys and work-related travel. Therefore, between 2019 and
2020, Scope 3 emissions have been reduced by 90%. On the other hand, the indirect emissions by electricity
consumption (scope 2) have diminished 23% and direct emissions, gathered in scope 1, have gone down
37%.
6%
73%
87%
The percentage distribution graphs for carbon footprint by scope show that direct emissions (Scope 1)
account for the largest percentage of emissions for both 2019 and 2020. The percentage of direct emissions
(Scope 1) has increased, going from 73% in 2019 to 87% in 2020. Likewise, the reduction of emissions in
Scope 3 due to mobility constraints (both in itinere and work-related travel) has gone down from 22% in
2019 to 4% in 2020.
GHG emissions (in tCO2eq) 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Note: For the years 2019 and 2020, the methodology for calculating direct emissions from fluorinated gas leakage has been adjusted
(more information in section 2. Methodology)
As we can see in the graph, the data shows that the total emissions increased significantly in 2019 and went
down again in 2020.
The increase in direct emissions (Scope 1) from 2019 onwards is noteworthy. This difference is basically due
to two reasons:
- Firstly, in 2019 an increase in the number of trips in private vehicles was registered in the El Salvador
country office due to the implementation of projects in new municipalities, some of which are
further away from the Educo offices. Once these projects were over, travel using private vehicles
went down again to 2018 levels.
- Secondly, the change in methodology for the leakage emissions from air conditioning equipment
has highlighted the condition of the air conditioning equipment in the offices in Mali, which
reported a significant amount of kg of fluorinated gas recharges. Furthermore, this corroborates
that the warming potential of fluorinated gases is very high and that an increase in these emissions
therefore has a very significant impact on the carbon footprint result. In any case, the replacement
of older appliances has led to a reduction in these leakage emissions in 2020, and work will continue
in this direction.
With regards to Scope 3, until 2019 these emissions represented the largest part of the organisation’s
carbon footprint, as can be seen in the historical data. In 2019 they decreased only slightly compared to
2018, but the increase in Scope 1 due to leakage emissions of fluorinated gases (leakage from air
conditioning equipment) led to a significant decrease in their percentage weight.
Greenhouse gas emissions data by emission source and country office for the year 2019 and then 2020 are
shown below.
Table 3: Greenhouse Gas Emission in 2020 by Type of Emission Source and Country Office
Burkina Faso 0.05 9.33 113.15 36.61 18.69 4.05 22.72 204.59
When making the calculations, the so-called emission factor must be applied to the direct data, which
establishes the amount of greenhouse gases emitted for each unit of the activity data parameter. These
emission factors vary depending on the activity involved3.
In the following table details these concepts, including the emission factors used according to the type of
activity. The sources from which these emission factor data have been obtained, i.e. the institution or
specialised body that reliably provides them, are also presented.
EMISSION FACTORS
Scope Activity type Activity data Emission factor Source
3 Definition from the Spanish Climate Change Office (Oficina Española de Cambio Climático)
Burkina Faso, Benin, Mali, Niger, 0.561 kgCO2/kWh Institute for Global
Senegal Environmental Strategies
(2021) List of Grid Emission
Factors, version 10.10
https://pub.iges.or.jp/pub/ige
s-list-grid-emission-factors
Work-related travel
Km travelled by average diesel car 0.16844 kg CO2 / km conversion factors 2020 -
using transport not
GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Spanish Climate Change Office (Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica). Guía para el cálculo de la huella de
carbono y para la elaboración de un plan de mejora de una organización
https://www.miteco.gob.es/es/cambio-climatico/temas/mitigacion-politicas-y-
medidas/guia_huella_carbono_tcm30-479093.pdf